Amusement park

An amusement park is a venue featuring various attractions, such as rides and games, as well as other events for entertainment purposes. They are sometimes also referred to as playlands, funfairs, carnivals, and so on, though many of these - unlike the permanent stuctures of amusement parks - tend to be temporary and/or mobile events.

The majority of such parks evolved from European recreational practices such as fairs, pleasure gardens and large picnic areas. Prominent examples over the past three centuries or so have been the various World's Fairs and other types of international expositions, which greatly influenced the emergence of the international evolution of amusement parks as business entities.

A special form of amusement park is what is known as a theme park, that bases its structures and attractions around a central theme, often featuring multiple areas with different themes. Possibly one of the more definitive and probably the best known internationally is Disneyland in California.